Page 95 - Lost Book Remedies
P. 95
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies
are not available, use Lamb’s Quarters Decoction on bring down fevers, and acts as an expectorant to help
the skin as a wash or in a compress. the body get rid of excess mucous. It also has anti-asth-
matic properties and contains Vitamin C.
Dental
Health and Harvesting: Break off or prune the top two inches
Tooth Decay: (5 cm) of shoots. The tops are more tender and less bit-
Use a Lamb’s ter. Choose plants from secluded places, away from
Quarter Decoc- roadways, industrial areas, and waste sites where they
tion to treat tooth may pick up high levels of nitrates and other toxins.
decay and bad Wash the leaves before use.
breath. Apply a Warning: Lamb’s quarter is an edible plant that has
drop or two of the very little risk when used in moderate amounts. How-
decoction di- ever, the plant does contain saponins in small quanti-
rectly onto the ties. Saponins are broken down by the cooking process.
tooth or rinse the Like many green, leafy vegetables, it also contains ox-
mouth with the alate crystals, which are not recommended in large
liquid. It calms amounts for people susceptible to kidney stones.
inflammation
and pain. You Recipes. Lamb’s Quarter Decoction: Shred
can also chew on fresh lamb’s quarter leaves into small pieces and pack
the raw leaves. Young goosefoot, 6th Happiness, CC by SA 3.0 into a cup to measure. Place the leaves in a pot and add
an equal measure of water. Bring to a boil and simmer
Colds, Flu and General Illness: Serve lamb’s for 10 minutes. Once the herbs are wilted, add more
quarters as a vegetable when people have a cold or flu water only if needed to cover the herbs. Cool the decoc-
with respiratory problems. It functions as a mild anal- tion and strain out the leaves. Keep in the refrigerator
gesic to relieve body aches, induces perspiration to for up to 3 days. (The leaves can be eaten if desired).
Lavender,
Lavandula angustifolia
Common lavender belongs to the Lamiaceae (Mint)
Family. It is also known as garden lavender, common
lavender, narrow-leaved lavender, true lavender, or
English lavender.
Identification: Common lavender grows 1 to 3 feet
(0.3m to 0.9meters) high in gardens. It has an irregu-
lar, erect, bluntly-quadrangular and multi-branched
stem that is covered with a yellowish-grey bark, which
comes off in flakes. It is covered with fine hairs. one another. The flowers of lavender are very shortly
stalked. The calyx of lavender is tubular and ribbed,
The leaves of lavender are opposite, entire, and linear. purple-grey in color, 5-toothed (one tooth is longer
When young, they are white with dense hairs on both than the others) and hairy. The shining oil glands
surfaces. When full grown, leaves are 1 1/2 inch-long amongst the hairs are visible through a lens. Most of
(3.75 cm) and green, with scattered hairs on the upper the oil yielded by the flowers is contained in the glands
leaf surface. The flowers grow in terminating, blunt on the calyx. The two-lipped corolla is a beautiful blu-
spikes from young shoots on long stems. The spikes are ish-violet color. It mostly lives and prefers dry grassy
composed of whorls of flowers, each having 6 to 10 slopes amongst rocks, in exposed, usually parched, hot
flowers, and the lower whorls are more distant from rocky situations often on calcareous soils. While not
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